HUMAN TRAFFICKING

Human Trafficking is no less than modern-day slavery, and it’s taking place right here. In Missouri communities and neighborhoods, victims are bought and sold for sexual exploitation and forced labor. The Attorney General’s Office has committed to fight to end this epidemic and ensure that no person’s body or life is ever for sale.

The Attorney General’s Office initiated new regulations, the first of their kind in the country, under Missouri’s consumer protection laws to prohibit the use of businesses as “fronts” for trafficking, make debt bondage illegal, and provide for new civil and criminal penalties on traffickers. The office also created a permanent, statewide Human Trafficking Task Force, the only one of its kind in Missouri, to include law enforcement officials, local prosecutors, social-service providers, victims’ advocates, and individual human-trafficking survivors. This Task Force will coordinate law enforcement efforts and services for victims.

The Attorney General’s Office and the Task Force will also establish collaborative training opportunities among law-enforcement officials, victims’ advocates, non-profits, and businesses well-positioned in the community to identify and stop trafficking throughout the state.